Where?

We are living in a time where anyone can be anything and that includes being nothing at all. People everyday are literally starving and living on the side of the road with signs asking for food and blessings. If you have a heart, you can’t help but to wonder how they got there. What leads someone down a road so dark that they have to resort to asking somebody, anybody for help and assistance. I see people everyday while I am out driving and most of the times, if I can, I would give them something or I’d go and buy something for them to eat, (but when I do this and come back they are usually gone). Today, it was an old man standing near some restaurants and an old kmart parking lot. I was leaving panera bread because they didn’t have what I wanted. I wasn’t exactly sure what his sign said, but I think I seen the word “Vietnam” on it. That means he is a veteran. I am also a veteran so, of course, helping him is like me helping my brother. In that moment I thought, it is sad that there are people in America fussing and cussing over football players not wanting to stand for the pledge of allegiance or national anthem or whatever, because of soldiers who have fought and died for the country, but there this man was. A Vietnam gulf war veteran and he is standing on the side of the road with a sign asking for help. How has society failed him when he has slipped through the cracks to this lifestyle? Then a following thought, there are no cracks, this is the foundation. Actions just aren’t lining up with words. I stopped when I got to him and I grabbed the cash I had in my bag and rolled down my window to hand it to him. He was hesitant at first, looking up at me with sad eyes. I can read people really well. So I smiled to let him know that its okay. He walks up towards the car and he says “I can’t believe this, I just can’t believe it. You must really have God in you. I have been out here for 30 minutes and not one person has stopped or acknowledged me, but you.” I didn’t know what to say. There was so many things that I wanted to say. I wanted to pull over and sit down and talk to him because I knew that is what he needed. Especially from a person like me who is so different from him, but still able to relate. In that instant, I probably changed his entire perspective of an entire race of people, my people. Maybe. We should not judge people by the color of their skin, nor the place that they stand in life because you never know when you will need someone. You never know when someone will need you. I told the man that I was sorry that he has had to experience that and that he will be blessed. I wanted to say so much more but I hope that, that moment was just enough to make him want to keep going. All we ever want to feel is that someone cares. That someone else besides ourself is listening and feels the same way and we are not alone. He was not alone because in that moment I stood there with him. I felt what it feels to be homeless and no-one even paying attention, let alone giving any concern or to talk to. I had nothing and nowhere to go and no place to lay my head with no-one else there to help me. Pushing through is just half the battle.

Beyond that, we were two people from two completely different walks of life, but who also have one thing in common. Being a veteran and a war veteran. We both served this country that is fighting over our honor to be respected through a song sung to a flag. A flag that we don’t even get to see because we don’t have cable because we don’t have a tv because we don’t have a home because we are homeless. “US”, the people in question. Where do the ties start, that pull together the strings, that show that we are the actual human people that you are fussing about, yet we aren’t even getting any real assistance and the assistance that we do get we have to jump through hoops for it. When does the outrage really count for assisting veterans who have served and fought for this country? That being said some of us can’t even take a knee because our bodies ache too much to do so, so we gotta stand or sit permanently anyhow, but thats another story. In other related news, I saw a lady yesterday sit at a long ass red light right in front of me while a homeless guy walked up and down the median with a sign beside her car and she waited until the light changed to roll down her window and threw money out the window at him and kept driving. That hurt my heart for him. I wouldn’t had even wanted that money. What is the point of treating someone who has the same flesh and blood and breathes the same air like they are less than you because you are in a vehicle and they are on the side of the road? Experience tells me that if you treat people bad enough, you will end up on the same end of that treatment in one way or another. Its funny though, who is gathering the homeless people and veterans off the street and teaching them how to integrate themselves back into society? Why are there no homeless charities that help homeless people with getting into these old downtown houses before they sit up and rot and grow trees all up in through the foundation? Why not have a job service that actually gives people jobs, not just centralizing how people get denied jobs? Why not actually give us a reason to be trillions of dollars in debt. It aint the citizens who spent the money and we aren’t getting anything that it is being spent on when our food is terrible and the air is polluted. I am totally ranting right now, but I am tired of American people acting as though we are separated and somebody on the left is immune or able to skate past the bull shit that is going on IN America. We are literally all here. Its a damn shame that 45 is 45. Furthermore, its a damn shame that 45 was elected by some of us, but now nobody wants to take blame for electing 45. Sounds like a whole different story to tell, but I’ll wait for that one as well. This is the same way that life will play out for a lot of people in a more broad way, if people don’t start accepting people who are different from them for who they are. I’ve had to learn, myself. You will never know who will lend out a hand to help you. No, I did not say “who you will need” I said, Who will lend out their hand to help you. Love you neighbor. All of us. If you are going to be mad about somebody kneeling during the pledge or national anthem, be aware that you are volunteering to support all of us who are behind those words. Even the ones standing on the side of the road with signs asking for help. Help them then. Put action to the reaction and make it count. Not one of us should be suffering or have suffered during or after service considering the outrage, but is that the truth? I am certain, not. Stop playing. Where does the outrage count?